1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a charging apparatus for an electric vehicle where the electric vehicle is stopped on a power transmission unit provided on the ground, and a battery mounted on the electric vehicle is charged in a non-contact manner.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, for conservation of the global environment, electric vehicles such as hybrid vehicles that travel by driving an electric motor using electric power from an on-vehicle battery in addition to power of an internal combustion engine, and electric automobiles that travel using a drive force of only an electric motor have rapidly become widespread. A non-contact charging apparatus for an electric vehicle as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2008-253131 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2009-106136 have been proposed to omit an operation of connecting a battery charger and a vehicle body using a charging cable and simplify a charging operation when charging an on-vehicle battery for electric vehicles.
Such a charging apparatus includes a power transmission unit provided on the ground such as the floor of a parking lot, and a power receiving unit provided on a lower surface of a vehicle body of an electric vehicle. In charging an on-vehicle battery, the vehicle body is parked so that the power receiving unit on the vehicle body is located immediately above the power transmission unit on the ground, and electric power is fed from the power transmission unit to the power receiving unit for charging by electromagnetic induction without contact between the power transmission unit and the power receiving unit. A non-contact method for electric power feeding may include microwaves or magnetic resonance besides electromagnetic induction.